Sunday, December 1, 2013

I first became aware of Helen Frankenthaler (1928-2011) in
the 1960s when I purchased the art book Nature in Abstraction which
included her 1957 painting “Lorelei.”
Helen was a real beauty and many of her early paintings had an enchanting
feminine lyricism about them. I followed
her career from then on and have admired her ambition, but as her work matured
it lost its lyricism and no longer held much attraction for me (Reminds me of
my following of Bob Dylan). I fondly
remember her as one of the first abstract painters to get me enthused about
painting. In the world of art history
she is recognized for a variety of abstract painting approaches as well as
color field painting.